Breaking the Clause
by ct522
Summary: Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are the co-stars of the year's most anticipated film. Their chemistry makes headlines but a clause in their contract keeps them from going public with their true feelings. A collection of one-shots and drabbles in no particular order depicting Everlark as Joshifer.
1. Chapter 1

**My dear friend and beta, bubblegum1425, just took her last exam of med school today and passed! I am so very proud of her and in honor of her accomplishment, I wrote her a little something.**

**With all of the Joshifer that's been on my dash, I could not help but write this Everlark version of Joshifer. I don't actively ship Joshifer but damned if they are not the cutest idiots when they are together! But I do ship Everlark so I hope you like this little offering.**

**Oh, and I have no legal background whatsoever. I don't know if studios prohibit their co-stars from dating. Oh well! I made it up :).**

**Enjoy and congratulations, Laura! Forgive any errors. I didn't send it to my beta because, well, it would have defeated the purpose.**

**XXXXX**

"Katniss," Ceasar Flickerman practically purred. He had asked the typical stock questions about the highly anticipated film, Victors of District 12, starring none other than Hollywood's hottest and most talented leads, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. In typical Flickerman style, he was going in for the kill. And in this case, it had to do with the incredible chemistry between the two "Star-Crossed Lovers of District 12."

"As you know, the term Everlark, was coined to describe the relationship you appear to share with Peeta. Are you really as close as the tabloids insinuate or is this just another pipe dream of fangirls everywhere?"

Katniss, by nature sometimes shy and reserved, indeed seemed to blossom in her co-star's company. So it was with a coy twinkle in her famously grey eyes that she responded, "Oh absolutely, we're like brother and sister. We even live on the same street." She gave a husky laugh as she cast Peeta a glance.

"Yeah, but I was there first. She moved in after me," he teased, waggling his eyebrows as Katniss rolled her eyes, tapping his hard, muscled thigh, shown to great effect in tight, dark blue jeans.

"Fine, you moved in first…" she said with an exaggerated tone of compliance. "You know how I feel about you." she tossed off, causing the audience to roar with excitement.

"Yeah, I know. You show me all the time," he winced as she pinched his arm.

XXXXX

By the time their interview was over, fans had already dissected, tweeted, blogged and gif'd all the particulars of their body language, especially the proximity of Katniss's legs to Peeta's and the way her hands fluttered over him. There were numerous commentaries on Peeta's fleeting but evident looks of admiration each time Katniss spoke.

Most telling was the uncanny way they both had of completing each other's sentences and understanding innuendos and jokes that could only come about when two people spent a great deal of time together. It was evident to everyone who watched that there were strong feelings between the small, dark and somewhat taciturn actress and her tall, blonde, boy-next-door co-star.

After the show, they were whisked out of the back of the studio towards their waiting SUV. Katniss stopped - she felt compassion for the number of people who had waited so long to see them, many in line for hours in the cold NYC winter. As if reading her mind, Peeta dashed behind her, much to their body guard's chagrin, and began speed signing whatever book, poster or scrap of paper that was thrust their way. After several minutes of confused happiness by fans and photographers, Effie Trinket, Katniss' Manager, was able to round up both her and Peeta and get them back into their car.

Effie huffed as they shut the doors and drove off, pulling out her itinerary and staring at it with exaggerated concentration.

Peeta leaned into Katniss and whispered loudly, making sure that Effie could, in fact, hear him, "You know what she's thinking about us, right?"

Katniss smiled, momentarily befuddled by Peeta's smell mixed with his cologne and the aroma of his freshly laundered blue shirt. She never failed to remind him of how much she loved that color, which contrasted well with his sun-kissed skin and golden blond hair. "Let me guess," she smiled, speaking in unison with him, "It's like herding cats!" at which they both dissolved into peals of laughter. Jerome, their chauffeur, suppressed a grin as Effie inhaled impatiently.

"We have to be at The Surrey by 2 o'clock and your antics almost threw us off schedule."

"Oh, come on Effie, lighten up." said Peeta. "You always get us where we need to be on time."

"Yeah. And anyway, what's five minutes. They'll wait." Katniss turned toward Peeta, straightening her short skirt, lifting the hem ever so slightly over her long, slender legs. Peeta pretended not to notice the way the material billowed over her smooth, dark thighs. The mask of seriousness she wore with everyone else except for him fell over her features as she stared out the window past him.

"Is that the hotel we're staying in, then? The Surrey?" she asked. Peeta looked down at his pants, pretending to pick lint from his jeans.

"Yes, you will both be at The Surrey. Penthouse suites, of course. Now Katniss, you will be speaking with The New Yorker while Peeta will be meeting an interviewer with The Village Voice. Short, sweet print interviews and then you are off the clock until tonight."

Katniss and Peeta nodded. The car leapt over the speed bump entry to the underground parking garage, the slant of the ground pointing them downwards until the vehicle came to a complete stop. Katniss cast Peeta a furtive look, filled with a message he already knew, before she picked up her bag and made her way into the hotel's "Special Entrance."

XXXXX

After the interview in the hotel library, Katniss hurried up to her suite. She'd barely set foot inside the door before her dress was already on the back of a chair, shoes cast off in the middle of the sitting room. She had been dreaming of a hot bath all day. Filling up the bath tub with oils, courtesy of the lavish, Upper East Side hotel, she was soon beneath the just scalding water, her dark hair piled upon her head. She was eager to wash off the days' worth of makeup, perfume and cheap one-liners. Acting was hard work and you didn't stop once you got off the set. She was always pretending - pretending to be funny, pretending to be carefree, pretending to care just enough without showing that she cared too much.

As if her thinking had summoned him, there was a brief rapping at the hotel room door before she heard the swish of the lock falling into place. Katniss and Peeta were such opposites - she could already visualize him taking off his pants and folding them neatly on the chair, followed by his shirt as he hung it over the back. Shoes and socks underneath. Underwear folded on top.

With perfect timing, she opened her eyes just as he stopped before her. His golden hair was slightly tousled, giving him a just-fucked, unkempt look. For the rest, he was as naked as the day he came into the world, except with far more sex appeal and far less innocence.

"You're a sight." she said, trying to hide the effect his nudity had on her. Her heart had already begun to speed up.

"You're kind of tempting yourself." he said but she was gratified to note that his breath, too, seemed quick and shallow.

Extending her slender hand towards him, she pleaded wordlessly with him to join her.

"How can I resist?" he asked simply as he slid in behind her, water sloshing over the sides and drenching the towels that lay strewn on the floor. Katniss peeked over the edge and smirked at the water pooling on the floor.

"You made a mess." she said as he settled in, pulling her against his chest.

"Not my circus," he said as he swiped the loose curls away from her neck and covered her skin with kisses. "It'll be a bigger mess before I'm done."

"Mmmm…" she hummed. "Did anyone see you come in?" she asked as his hands ran over her smooth, wet skin.

"Nah. Handlers were too busy getting coffee," he said as his hands came to rest on her breasts, cupping them and feeling their moist heaviness in the palms of his hand. As he kneaded those small but firm swells, he left open kisses along her shoulders, licking her fragrant, warm skin. He made his way up her neck and to her cheek before she tilted her head back and offered her mouth up to him.

They kissed until they were both breathless. When they broke apart, Peeta whispered, "That striped dress you were wearing today almost killed me."

Katniss leaned back against his chest, his erection poking impatiently into the small of her back. "That was the point. I wanted to see if those tight pants had any room for a hard-on."

He chuckled into her hair as his hand slid over her flat stomach. "Not much. There are going to be serious pictures of my hard dick all over the internet."

Katniss gasped as his fingers fondled her now swollen lips, teasing her clit as she moved her hips to give him greater access. "Good. Don't forget who put it there."

"Jealous?" he teased, pushing his fingers inside her, feeling the soft, tender flesh mold around his fingers. Katniss widened her legs, rotating her hips so she could feel him in different ways as he moved his thick fingers in and out of her.

"Not jealous. Frustrated," she moaned as he moved faster, his hand gripping her breast as she rocked her hips in time with his fingers until, with a final thrust, she came loudly, Peeta's lips clamping down on her shoulder. She shuddered and arched as the sensation moved through her, drowning out everything except for her own cries and Peeta's heavy breathing in her ear. Pulling his fingers out, he pushed her forward until she was on her knees, leaning against the edge of the tub.

He ran his large hands down the indentation of her spine, nails lightly scraping a path to her ass. Unable to resist the plump, round swell under his hands, he pinched her hard, leaving a delicious mark right on the spot she'd sit on tomorrow as she delivered her umpteenth interview. He pinched her again, twisting the taut skin until a flush of red bloomed beneath his fingers. She had flawless skin and he took a perverse pleasure in leaving his mark on it. "You'll think of me every time you sit down."

Katniss moaned, leaning back against him, seeking out his hard cock. "I already think about you all the time."

She felt Peeta's smile against her back before he kissed her, his tongue drawing designs on her wet skin. He reached over to grab one of the silver foils he'd tossed on the vanity near the tub and deftly rolled on a condom before rearing back, rubbing himself against her to cover himself in her juice. Groaning, he sheathed himself completely inside of her, jerking his hips until he could go no further. He pulled out again and rammed into her, the now cooling water spilling out over the edge of the tub in large splashes. Katniss could care less. She was lost in his movement, the grunts he released every time his thighs crashed into hers.

"Harder," she hissed, and Peeta obliged, putting all of his strength into each thrust. He reached up and grasped a handful of her dark hair, which had fallen out of the bun she'd made to keep it dry, yanking back the way he knew she liked. Katniss was small but sturdy, long muscles gracing her slender body. Even though Peeta was almost twice her size in height and weight, she could take him and he loved watching the impact of his body against hers. This was the closest he was going to get to really having her at this moment and he had to make the most of it when he could.

Katniss became frantic, seeking out her relief. She reached under, fondling his sack before touching herself, making herself climb. Peeta slammed into her, releasing her hair so he could grip her hips, his fingers sinking into her soft, olive skin. He felt the flexing of her muscles beneath him and rocked into her until she spasmed around his cock, crying out as those intense waves of pleasure threatened to carry her away. At that moment, Peeta let go and fell apart, emptying himself as he continued to thrust until he'd nearly collapsed onto Katniss.

There was very little water left in the tub so it made no sense to stay there. When they could move again, they turned on the showerhead and rinsed off before stepping out of the slippery bathroom to dry in the bedroom.

"We have time for a nap, you know," Katniss said, flinging her towel in a corner before slipping naked under the thick, posh duvet.

Peeta hesitated a moment. "Maybe I should go. We're not supposed to..."

Katniss sat up suddenly, her eyes flashing in anger. "I don't give a rat's ass about the clause! We're done filming! There are no fans here. Effie is the only one who can come in here and she won't say anything," she softened her voice, because truthfully, she wasn't angry at Peeta. She was angry at the situation. "Please. Stay."

He looked at Katniss carefully until she could see the decision in his eyes. "Okay. I'll stay," he answered before slipping under the covers also, gathering her up to him. Katniss rested her head on his shoulder, her body as warm as melted butter against his. "It's a hard habit to break, though," he said, squeezing her to him.

"Soon, we won't be breaking the clause anymore." Katniss said. "We'll be able to walk out of a hotel room together hand in hand and no one will hold it against us." She looked up at his resting face. "As soon as this promotion is done, we're free."

"Free," Peeta said, savoring the word. "We'll probably cause Tumbler to get a collective heart attack and crash," he quipped.

"I think there will be a lot of "I told you so's," she chuckled. "But something new will come along and people will go after that and eventually forget about us." She lifted her head to look at him. "What matters is what's between us."

Peeta nodded, kissing her before trapping her with his leg as he always did when they slept together. "Well, I for, one, ship you with me. Hard. And I'm ready to go down with this ship."


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, somebody needs to stop me. I should be working on my Nanowrimo but all this wonderful Joshifer silliness is messing with my best-laid plans. I, for one, think there is a little bit more to that whole woke-up-with-ketchup-packets-on-my-ass business. At least, there is when it happens to Katniss.**

**Happy Reading! These drabbles and one-shots are in no particular order.**

**XXXXX**

"Ughhhh…" Katniss groaned as the ever-brightening light from the California sun penetrated through the slats of the venetian blinds. For a moment, she wasn't sure where she was but one loud snore from the face-down bedfellow next to her brought all the memories from last night rushing back to her. Coming to full consciousness, she tasted the bitter flavor of onions and mustard on her tongue, as well as a acrid fumes of garlic rising up the back of her throat. She'd forgotten to brush her teeth last night and was paying for it by tasting the full range of junk food she'd inhaled last night.

_Pizza_

_Diet Coke_

_Quarter Pounder with Cheese_

_French Fries_

_Chocolate Milk Shake_

_What the hell was I thinking!_ she screamed at herself. It was as if a brick of plastic had settled at the pit of her stomach and she felt mildly sick from it. Turning her head to the snoring machine next to her, she was tempted to scream at him also, though for what, she wasn't quite sure.

Feeling grossed out by the foul aftertaste of fake food, Katniss made to sit up but was pinned down by a heavy muscular arm across her waist. At her movement, the mass next to her shifted and two bleary, golden-lashed blue eyes stared back at her, still straddling the line between sleep and wakefulness.

"Hey," he moaned, rubbing his face into his pillow to help clear his mind.

"Peeta," she said in exasperation. "Why do I keep you around?"

Lifting himself to rest on his elbow, he brushed at the hair that stuck to Katniss' forehead. "I don't know. My stunning good looks? My engaging and irresistible personality?"

"Your good sense!" she exclaimed in frustration. "You're supposed to keep me from doing things like what I did last night. Not encourage me!"

"I did _not_ encourage you. As I recall correctly, I was trying to eat the pizza _I_ had delivered to _my_ house when you came over and devoured most of it. Not just that, you then proceeded to drive all the way to McDonald's with _my_ chauffeur and bring back loads of stuff that you barely shared with me. How did I know you were on a mission to eat everything in sight?"

"I did do that, didn't I? Ugh!" she said, flinging herself back onto the pillow. "Peeta! I feel like I swallowed an elephant," Katniss groused unhappily. "I might have even gone into a food coma!"

"Okay, voice of reason here! You did _not_ go into a food coma. You did, however, fall into a very deep sleep and nothing was going to wake you up. Trust me. I tried." He gave her a sly grin and Katniss could only imagine how he'd tried to wake her up.

"You really only ever have one thing on your mind," she complained half-heartedly as she sat up, the blanket falling away to reveal that she'd at least had the wherewithal, at some point, to strip off her clothes. It was then that she felt the sharp pain on her bottom.

"Ow!" she said, twisting to the side to expose her backside to Peeta.. "Something bit me! Peeta, do you have bed bugs?"

"What - no!" he said as he lifted the blanket to look at the source of her discomfort. Katniss' concern became confusion as Peeta dissolved into a heap of laughter.

"This is brilliant. Wait a second." he reached over to the end table on the other side of him and pulled out her I-Phone.

"What do you think you're doing!" Katniss said, trying to cover herself again.

"No, wait, Katniss, please, this is priceless." Peeta guffawed as he pulled up the camera and started clicking away."

"My two favorite things." he murmured appreciatively as she became impatient with him. "Your perfect ass and ketchup."

"What the hell are you talking about?" she looked back and saw the source of Peeta's humor. Katniss scowling face split into a brilliant grin and soon she was laughing as hard as he was. "Of course, I'd sleep all night with ketchup packets on my ass!" she said as soon as she could breathe. "Please, don't let me do that again!"

"As if I could stop you!" he said, clicking away at more than her ketchup-packet-covered behind.

"Peeta, no! I look crazy!"

"You are sexy as hell." he said, yanking the blankets off of her. "I could fucking eat you right now," he growled as he tugged at the pillow she'd grabbed to cover herself. "Come on, Katniss, pose for me."

"Give me that!" she laughed, snatching the camera out of his hand. "Not like this," she crawled up to him and put her lips to his ear, her words full of promise. "When I'm cleaned up, I'll let you take a few so you can have them when I'm not around. If you're going to look at porn, you might as well look at me."

"I don't watch porn." Katniss leaned back and crossed her arms, quirking one eyebrow up at him. Flushing slightly, Peeta opted to change the subject. "Well, since you ate my dinner, I'm starving now." He stood up and it was clear he hadn't forgotten to take his clothes off either. "Want me to get you something?"

The memory of her late night binge rose up in her throat again and she wrinkled her nose. "I think I'll pass on breakfast."


	3. Chapter 3

**Real or Not Real - Everlark as Joshifer Drabble 3**

**Well, I officially declare my brain ruined. This little drabble hit me after the NYC fan event on Saturday, November 15th. Katniss has just as hard of a time reacting to what is real and not real on the screen as Jennifer does.**

**Happy Sunday and Happy Reading!**

**XXXXX**

Katniss walked inside the dressing room and slammed the door behind her.

"Goddammit all!" she swore as she shoved bottles and papers off the vanity, making space for her elbows as she balanced her head on her knuckles. She did not react to the smashing sounds of glass against the floor.

"God-fucking-dammit," she whispered to herself again. She remained in that attitude - chest heaving, head cradled heavily in her small hands, right leg bouncing maniacally under the dressing room table.

After several long moments, there was a swift rapping at the door behind her. The subtle creaking of unoiled hinges announced the visitor. Katniss didn't lift her head. She knew who it was. All her senses told her what her eyes did not need to confirm. He stood quietly behind her, perhaps contemplating her position, before she felt his warm arms wrap around her. Knowing her as well as he did, he didn't say anything and simply waited for her to get herself under control before she spoke.

"What is so wrong with playing a fucking blank tape during that scene? I don't need to see you…" here her voice faltered. She swallowed hard in response, getting control of herself, "...I don't need to see you...that way...over and over again."

"Plutarch wants you to react as naturally as possible. He's the director after all." Peeta squeezed her shoulders gently. "And might I remind you that it is just a movie?"

Katniss jerked her head up and stared at Peeta's reflection in the mirror. "How would you feel if you had to watch me suffering, in pain, over and over and over and over again, on continuous loop? How would you like it if you had to watch me get beaten or starved, not once, but repeatedly and know that there was nothing you could do about it? You just have to sit there and suck it up and endure it and _perform_, like a circus animal!"

"But you didn't see me get beaten or starved. It's just me, on the screen…"

"Peeta!" she turned around, her grey eyes wide with misery. "How do you think people in real life get to look that way! I know in my head that it's not real but, dammit if my heart doesn't break and grieve every time I have to see you like that." She laughed mirthlessly, raising her hands in exasperation. "Is it too much to ask that you not be such a good actor?"

Peeta knelt before her, holding her trembling, clammy hands in his own larger ones. The look of tenderness he gave her disarmed her and brought her even closer to tears, though she'd spent the last seven takes crying at a television screen. "This is why you are the most brilliant actress of your age. You can jump in and out of a scene with an ease bordering on genius. Coriolanus Snow is right to be agog over you and sing your praises to anyone who will listen," he smiled before bringing her frigid fingers up to his lips and blowing warm air over them.

"That has nothing to do with it…" she spat angrily. "I can't...I can't watch my baby suffer like that and not be devastated."

Peeta shook his head. "But it isn't real."

"Oh, for shit's sake, Peeta! Somewhere, in the history of the world, maybe at this very moment, some poor girl has had to watch the love of her life tortured and reduced to a walking corpse before her eyes and it doesn't end when the director calls 'cut'!" Kantiss couldn't stem the tears, though she was, until then, convinced she had no more left to shed. "I feel that person's agony, I want to reach through that screen and keep you safe and I can't." Her shivering became tremors that moved visibly through her body. "Because you're so far beyond my power. How does anyone live with that? How does a person survive that?" At that, she allowed her tears to fall unchecked.

Peeta studied her in shock before his face gave way to something like awe and joy. He pulled her towards him to kiss her tear-drenched lips, watching as her eyes fluttered closed to receive him before he pulled back.

"The love of your life?" he whispered against her lips. Katniss' eyes opened slowly, her gaze unguarded, and full of the answers he sought. She simply nodded her head.

"You love me, real or not real?" he persisted, and there was nothing flippant or clever as he said it. The question was as authentic as the agony in Katniss' chest or the wonder on his face.

Katniss pushed him backwards until they were both on the ground, her lips falling over his, crashing down, her tongue demanding entrance. When she had kissed him to a state of near collapse, she pulled back, holding his head in both her hands so that he wouldn't miss that one single word.

"Real."


End file.
